Malloy: Connecticut Can't Afford Not To Replace I-84 Viaduct

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy held a short press conference underneath the aging I-84 viaduct near Capitol Avenue Tuesday to promote his plan to rebuild, replace or relocate the busy interstate highway as it winds through Hartford. (Stephen Dunn)

HARTFORD — In a pitch to shore up support for replacing the I-84 viaduct, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy on Tuesday said the multibillion-dollar project will recoup more than twice its cost through economic growth and savings for motorists.

"The cost of inaction far outweighs the cost of action," Malloy said at a press conference beneath the deteriorating elevated highway that takes the interstate through Hartford. "Making a down payment … will generate billions in economic activity and grow thousands of jobs."

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Replacing the heavily used stretch of highway between Exit 45 and the I-91 interchange is a key piece of Malloy's ambitious $100 billion, 30-year proposal for overhauling Connecticut's transportation network.

Some legislators have recently signaled that they want to scale back the governor's proposal because of worsening budget deficits. Lawmakers' first opportunities to do that would involve diverting transportation money to the state's general fund, and scaling back the design and engineering work that is budgeted for dozens of big-ticket highway and transit initiatives.

Malloy, however, maintains that Connecticut needs to make up for decades of politically driven neglect of its highways, bridges and transit systems. On average, highway commuters in the state lose 40 to 42 hours a year to delays caused by congestion, he said.

"It's costing us $4.2 billion a year, the largest toll or undisclosed tax that anybody is paying in Connecticut," Malloy said.

Malloy's administration on Tuesday released its own cost/benefit analysis of the viaduct project, concluding that it would save I-84 drivers more than $9 billion over the next 20 years through faster trips, better reliability, fewer accidents and reduced gas and vehicle maintenance costs.

That means benefits would be more than 21/2 times the cost of the $3.4 billion project. State engineers estimate actual costs will be anywhere from $4 billion to $12 billion depending on whether the viaduct is replaced with another elevated highway, a ground-level highway or a tunnel.

The job would yield $10.2 billion in economic growth through 2050, including 3,000 to 7,000 highway construction jobs as well as 2,500 to 3,500 permanent jobs from business expansion, according to the Malloy administration's projections.

By comparison, leaving the roughly 50-year-old structure in place is costing millions of dollars annually in short-term repairs.

"It was built in the 1960s to handle 55,000 vehicles a day. It's handling about 170,000 now. It's a 1950s design, and it will cost us a tremendous amount of money to keep it open as it is," Malloy said.

Transportation Commissioner James Redeker wants to have a design selected in 2016. Construction could start in 2021 using traditional engineering and planning methods, but might begin sooner, he said.

Malloy has a committee studying how to pay for the overall $100 billion, 30-year transportation plan, and he said Tuesday that he'd wait for its report before discussing how Connecticut will pay for individual projects such as the viaduct.

Highway tolls and a gas tax increase have been proposed, along with public-private partnerships.